In the Footsteps of Saint John Baptist Scalabrini

On August 10, 1901, Bishop John Baptist Scalabrini blessed Saint Raphael House in New York, one of the works created to welcome, guide and protect Italian immigrants arriving in the United States.

For Scalabrini, care for migrants could not begin only after they had settled in a parish. It had to accompany them throughout the entire migration journey: from the port of departure, across the Atlantic, through the port of arrival and into the cities where they would begin a new life.

At the time of the visit, Fr. Giacomo Gambera was Provincial of the single Scalabrinian province then serving New England, New York and the Midwest. To welcome Scalabrini and document that missionary presence, he commissioned an artist to paint a series of watercolors representing all the Scalabrinian missions operating in the United States. The paintings were prepared as a gift for the bishop.

The watercolor shown here belongs to that series. Rather than simply depicting a building, it presents the mission symbolically: a steamship crosses the Atlantic while an angel holding the Cross guides it toward New York. In the distance stands the Statue of Liberty, the landmark that greeted millions of immigrants approaching the United States.

Newly arrived immigrants often had little money, spoke little or no English, did not understand American institutions and had few reliable contacts. The Saint Raphael Society responded with trustworthy assistance, helping protect them from exploitation, dishonest agents and fraudulent intermediaries as they moved from arrival toward settlement.

During the same week, on August 15, Scalabrini visited the Italian community in Newark and spent time at Holy Rosary Church in Jersey City. He was not simply inspecting institutions; he was meeting the people they served and learning firsthand about the realities faced by immigrant families.

For Scalabrini, migration was never only about crossing an ocean. It was about accompanying a person from uncertainty toward a place where a new life could begin.

The Saint Raphael Society and the Missionaries of Saint Charles therefore sought to accompany migrants before departure, during the Atlantic crossing, at the port of arrival and later in the cities where they settled. Scalabrini had already established assistance in Genoa, where emigrants were being treated, in his words, almost like merchandise.

He also encouraged priests to travel aboard emigrant ships. These chaplains celebrated Mass, preached, heard confessions, cared for the sick, comforted families and assisted the dying during dangerous crossings. In some years, ten or twelve priests accompanied emigrants from Genoa toward American ports. Saint Raphael House connected that ministry of departure with protection, reliable information and human welcome in America.

On the evening of August 31, Italian associations, musical bands and families gathered at the New Haven station. The procession toward Saint Michael’s Church carried American and Italian flags, organizational banners and colored lanterns.

Many immigrants knelt to receive the bishop’s blessing. The church, decorated in red, white and blue lights, was filled to the doors. More than a tribute to a bishop, the celebration was the public expression of an immigrant community that wanted to be seen, heard and recognized.

Contemporary reports described red ceremonial fire, several musical bands, society uniforms and colored lanterns. Every participating organization carried the American flag, the Italian flag and its own banner, expressing attachment to the homeland together with loyalty to the new country.

At the entrance to Saint Michael’s, girls from the Society of Mary wore white dresses, veils and flower wreaths. A child named Josephine Daponte delivered the formal welcome. For a community often portrayed through insulting stereotypes, the reception offered another public image: organized families, religious associations, musicians, children, workers and citizens expressing both faith and belonging.

On September 1 at Saint Michael’s Church, Scalabrini celebrated Mass, preached and confirmed 400 children. Local newspapers described the celebration as one of the most important days in the parish’s history.

On September 5 he arrived in Boston, where nearly thirty Italian religious societies had prepared his reception. About one hundred carriages moved through streets decorated with lanterns, lights and the colors of Italy and the United States. Scalabrini encountered a community that faced strong prejudice but had already established parishes, associations, schools and an intense life of faith.

The presence of so many children was especially significant. Scalabrini knew the immigrant community’s future depended on the younger generation. They needed to learn English and participate in American life while receiving from families, parishes and schools a sense of faith, dignity and heritage.

His public presence also challenged anti-Italian prejudice. By visiting immigrant neighborhoods, addressing families and meeting American religious and civic leaders, he placed their labor, faith and aspirations before a wider audience. During the full journey he delivered 298 addresses, many quoted or summarized by American newspapers.

While Scalabrini was in Boston, President William McKinley was shot in Buffalo. As a sign of respect and solidarity, Scalabrini canceled a large procession and asked the community to pray for the president.

He also visited the seminary in Brighton, the Italian community in Winthrop, a Polish mission in South Boston and the Italian church in Orient Heights. On September 12 he continued to Utica and then Syracuse. His itinerary shows that his pastoral concern extended beyond one nationality to migrants of different peoples and cultures.

Canceling the procession communicated that Italian Catholics were not isolated from the joys and tragedies of the United States. They belonged to the national community and shared concern for its leaders and institutions.

Scalabrini’s visit to a Polish mission is equally revealing. The pastoral challenges of migration—language barriers, isolation, poverty, cultural misunderstanding and loss of religious community—affected many peoples, not Italians alone. Boston newspaper coverage placed his appeal for prayer before the wider public and presented immigrants as people capable of civic solidarity and compassion.

On September 22, Scalabrini celebrated a Pontifical Mass at Saint Francis Church in Detroit. Two days later he departed, passed through Chicago and traveled about twenty-three hours by train to Saint Paul, Minnesota.

There he stayed with Archbishop John Ireland, visited seminaries and began arranging a meeting with President Theodore Roosevelt. On September 27 he left for Kansas City, arriving after another twenty hours of travel. He did not wait for migrants to come to him; he went to meet them where they lived.

Rail travel made enormous distances possible, but the journey was physically demanding. Scalabrini was already in his early sixties and repeatedly preached, confirmed children, received visitors, met bishops, inspected institutions and boarded another train with little rest.

His actions reflected a central pastoral principle: the shepherd had to go where the people were. The congregation’s wider history shows missionaries traveling by ship, train, horse and riverboat to reach scattered communities. Mobility became a defining characteristic of a congregation founded for people who were themselves continually on the move.

On September 29, a procession escorted Scalabrini to the Italian church in Kansas City. He preached, confirmed sixty children and later continued to Saint Louis, where he met the archbishop and discussed acquiring a new church for the Italian community.

Scalabrini encouraged immigrants to remain united, educate their children, learn the language and participate responsibly in their new country. He did not ask them to erase their roots, but to transform them into a positive contribution to American society.

Bands played and banners moved in the wind as a large crowd filled the area around the Kansas City church. The building was already full before Confirmation began, while hundreds remained outside. A newspaper account noted the many families and even very young babies brought to the celebration.

For Scalabrini, integration meant neither isolation nor cultural disappearance. Immigrants’ traditions, work ethic, family bonds and faith could enrich American society. They could become active members of their new country while preserving the values that strengthened family and community life.

After celebrating First Communions and Confirmations in Cincinnati and visiting Columbus, Scalabrini traveled nineteen hours to Washington. On October 10 at 10:00 a.m., he was received by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Scalabrini defended Italian immigrants, emphasizing their hard work and respect for the law. He denounced abuses suffered by new arrivals and called for better reception conditions at Ellis Island. The next day he visited Cardinal James Gibbons in Baltimore and returned to New York on October 12.

Roosevelt had assumed the presidency only weeks earlier after McKinley’s death. The conversation crossed languages—Roosevelt spoke English and Scalabrini French—yet the historical account says they understood one another and held a cordial discussion.

Scalabrini emphasized Italian immigrants’ hard work, sobriety, perseverance, morality and generally law-abiding conduct, directly challenging stereotypes of criminality and disorder. He also described the injustices surrounding immigration and advocated improved reception and protection connected with Ellis Island.

The meeting demonstrates the breadth of his pastoral care. Migrants’ welfare was shaped not only by sacramental ministry but also by laws, institutions, labor conditions and public opinion. He therefore spoke with religious leaders, journalists, associations, public officials and the president.

On October 13, Scalabrini confirmed 750 children and young people from Saint Joachim and Our Lady of Pompeii. Two days later he was formally welcomed at the Catholic Club of New York on Central Park South.

There he described the United States as a place where different peoples could meet and build unity. For Scalabrini, migration belonged to a wider providential plan: the union of peoples in God and the building of a truly fraternal society.

Church leaders, priests, representatives of the Italian community and prominent guests attended the Catholic Club reception. Scalabrini described America as a place where peoples, cultures and traditions were meeting on an unprecedented scale. He had seen migration’s poverty, separation, exploitation and prejudice, yet believed human mobility could become part of a greater process of encounter and unity.

He linked this vision to the Spirituality of Incarnation: history was not outside God’s concern, and Christians had to guide social change toward justice, fraternity, reconciliation and respect for dignity. Contemporary accounts also pointed to the practical foundation for this vision: twenty-four churches established in the United States by Scalabrinian missionaries, the Saint Raphael Society and other charitable works.

Scalabrini returned to New York on October 28 and revisited Saint Raphael House the following day. On October 30 he began a retreat in preparation for the ordination of four young men to the priesthood.

After traveling thousands of miles, he turned his attention to the future. His journey had to become people, institutions and communities capable of sustaining a permanent mission after his return to Italy.

The congregation’s broader history shows how demanding missionary preparation had become. Priests needed theology and philosophy, but also the ability to adapt to different countries, travel long distances, establish parishes, teach, organize associations and defend migrants from exploitation.

Scalabrini envisioned more than occasional ministry to one ethnic group. He sought a permanent network linking places of departure, ships crossing the Atlantic, ports of arrival and cities of settlement. The retreat represented continuity: his visit would end, but new priests, parishes, schools, houses and charitable institutions could carry its purpose forward.

On November 3 at Our Lady of Pompeii Church, Scalabrini ordained four new missionaries. The next day he celebrated the feast of Saint Charles Borromeo, patron of the congregation he had founded in 1887. During that final week he also visited the Italian community in Brooklyn and celebrated Confirmations in Newark.

The ordination was one of the journey’s most visible fruits. Immigrant communities needed priests who understood their language and culture and could also help them participate fully in the Church and American society.

The new priests would serve needs Scalabrini had witnessed personally: crowded neighborhoods, children requiring religious education, workers isolated by language, families without stable parishes and new arrivals vulnerable to abuse.

Saint Charles Borromeo, whose feast Scalabrini celebrated the next day, represented pastoral reform, disciplined clergy, education and attention to people’s spiritual needs. The missionaries had to combine continuity with adaptation: speaking a familiar language and respecting immigrant devotions while preparing families for life in a new society.